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Sharks try to rebound from loss against Canucks

Oct 5, 2007 - 2:05 PM San Jose (0-0-1) at Vancouver (0-0-0) 10:00 pm EDT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The San Jose Sharks will look to rebound from a loss when they travel to Vancouver to take on the Canucks.

The Sharks suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers in their first game of the 2007-08 season on Thursday. Joe Thornton is off to a hot start in the new campaign as he scored a goal and added an assist while captain Patrick Marleau added a tally of his own.

Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov made 23 saves on Thursday. The 32-year-old Nabokov has been one of the most consistent goalies in the league, posting a goals-against average of under 2.75 in six of his last seven seasons.

Nabokov will oppose another top goaltender on Friday when Roberto Luongo mans the crease for the Canucks. Luongo will try to follow up on the best season of his career in 2006-07 when he finished as the runner-up to the Vezina and Hart trophies.

Luongo posted a 47-22-6 record with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage last season and helped the Canucks finish the campaign with a 32-8-6 record down the stretch en route to the Northwest Division title. The 28-year-old was an iron man for the Canucks last season, playing in 76 regular season games and 12 playoff contests.

The Canucks offense will be led by captain Markus Naslund, who had a down year last season, scoring just 24 goals and 60 points. It was just the second time in the last seven seasons that Naslund has failed to score 30 goals during a campaign.

Naslund is joined on the front line by the Sedin twins. Daniel Sedin led the Canucks with a career-high 36 goals and 84 points while Henrik Sedin registered 71 assists. The Canucks will need a repeat performance from all three forwards if they plan on defending their Northwest Division title.